• The four Bobby Jones Scholars who came to Emory this year from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland had a special treat: serving as extras in the Bobby Jones biopic that opened in theaters across the country April 30. Dressed in 1920s garb–tweed knickers, vests, and caps for the men; long-sleeved dresses and wide-brimmed hats for the ladies– Chris Dale, Tim Hayden-Smith, Rob Huddart, and Lynch, were in the background of scenes filmed last fall at East Lake Golf Club.

• On the top floor of the Pitts Theology Library, there is a vast room filled with ten-foot-tall shelves and protected by heavy locks and a security keypad, to which only a handful of people know the code. To scholars of Martin Luther and the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation, the contents of this room are equivalent to the most precious museum holdings anywhere, a place of pilgrimage.

• Eric Nelson, Emory choral director and associate professor of music is one of seven faculty members chosen to receive a Crystal Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2004

• Peter Cohen has been stared at, mocked, even physically threatened. Over the course of two decades, the thirty-nine-year-old’s body had twisted and contorted due to a neurological movement disorder called dystonia, which causes involuntary muscle contractions, abnormal movements, and awkward postures. About three hundred thousand Americans have dystonia, making it the third most common movement disorder behind Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor disorder.

• Pick up almost any news story that has to do with Southern politics, and there’s a fair chance the Asa G. Candler Professor of Politics and Government Merle Black will be quoted. And with the U.S. presidential election closing in, Black isn’t the only Emory political expert whose telephone is ringing. Alan Abramowitz, Alben W. Barkley Professor of Political Science, also fields frequent calls from media looking for tips on the political racetrack.

• The $33.4-million Goizueta Foundation Center will complete a “magnificent quadrangle” in a part of campus that was once little-used space, said business school Dean Thomas S. Robertson. The five-story building will house Goizueta’s recently established Ph.D. program and research centers, a reflection of the school’s growing commitment to research. The executive programs also will have their own space under the new roof.

• In summer, the place enjoys the relaxed atmosphere of a neighborhood swim and tennis club; in the fall, it becomes a bustling college campus. Emory’s new Clairmont Campus, which opened in 2003, is nothing if not versatile. During the warm months at least, the vast, sparkling blue pool is the epicenter of the Student Activity and Academic Center (SAAC), the heart of the Clairmont Campus. The SAAC also offers a range of activities such as yoga, Pilates, and kickboxing, as well as swimming and tennis classes for all ages. The SAAC has more than 700 memberships, including families from the nearby Druid Hills and Decatur neighborhoods and alumni members.

• To have two plays produced at once is surely a playwright’s dream. It won’t likely happen for many in their lifetime. But it did for Lauren Gunderson ’03C this winter, when she saw a pair of her plays, Leap and Background, mounted simultaneously at Theater Emory and Atlanta’s Essential Theatre.

• Johnnie D. Ray, vice president for resource development at the University of Texas at Austin, has been named senior vice president for institutional advancement at Emory. He succeeds William H. Fox ’79PhD, who has been named senior vice president for external affairs.

• To be diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease–a progressive neurological disorder that causes tremors and muscle stiffness–was an especially cruel irony for Kim Nichols, a solderer for Northrop Grumman Corporation who enjoys origami as a hobby. When Nichols could no longer use her right hand to do intricate work, she learned to use her left. She decided to dedicate her talents in origami, the Japanese art of folding paper into flowers, animals, and ornaments, toward finding a cure for Parkinson’s.